American pilots strafing Changhua near the Confucius Temple in Changhua.Lots of people around like that....
When I lived in Hemei, in Changhua County my boss' husband was a KMT politician, and he liked to take me out drinking with his constituents. One night we were drinking 蒸餾酒 (I'm guessing at the characters, I had no clue then. It was moonshine made from grapes from near Fengyuan I was told, and 60% or higher alcohol) with a guy who walked with a limp. Turns out the guy had been hit by an American bomb, and one of his legs was all torn up. He also had to drop out of school, so never finished his education. He didn't seem to bear any ill will towards Americans, though.
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Daily Links:
- End of Ma era = end of KMT princelings. Well, no. There's Hau.
- East Asian Forum: Mark Harrison on Tsai Ing-wen and turbulent times to come
- News Lens: Is the mob receding, or just going further underground? From veteran Taiwan writer Timothy Ferry. Good stuff.
- A piece on Tsai and the SCS claims, but wrongly conflates ROC and Taiwan. It is precisely that difference that Tsai can exploit, if she wants to. Yes, the ROC and PRC claims are almost identical and China will get them if it gets Taiwan, as I have been saying...
- Good analysis of 1992 Consensus from the always sturdy James Wang
- Taiwan seeks 'independence' in trade too
- Real wages fell in Taiwan a tiny bit.
- Executive Yuan drops lawsuits against Sunflowers
- Interesting comments on Tsai from Indian scholar, though much incorrect.
- Richard Bush in Brookings: It could have been worse.
- Second Zika case
- WSJ says US ambiguity on Taiwan dangerous. Nope: US ambiguity on Taiwan is smart. Because if the US had to declare what it was defending, it would have to take a position on who really owns the SCS islands that the ROC claims. If it says it won't defend them, China might feel it has a free hand. If it says it will defend them, it is defending one version of China against another. Ditto for the Senkakus with added bonus that likely opponent is Japan. Headache city: best not to say anything...
- IMPORTANT: Legislative session extended to July 15. Good news for getting things done.
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Some good links there. However, one criticism.
ReplyDeleteThe News Lens for some reason is setting its text with line breaks in the middle of a word, as in 'pe' followed by 'rformance' or 'r' followed by 'eceive'. Tried it in various mobile / desktop browsers, but to no avail.
Perhaps a temporary technical fault...or maybe need to fine-tune the browser rendering chaps?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2016/05/22/after-8-years-of-calm-old-foes-taiwan-and-china-start-bickering-again/#1266252228db
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget this piece of gem where Tsai is messing up 8 years of calm by setting up a bunch of unnerving conditions for poor China.
Seems like the DPP legislature is acting more professional and competent then tthe previous ones, though not a tough benchmark to beat.
ReplyDeleteThey're also probably all scared shitless because they actually have to perform now.